Running from 1903 to 1904, A. Piker Clerk (by Clare Briggs b. 1875 - d. 1930) was very unusual due to the way it was presented, which required it to be ran daily. This gives it the distinction of being the earliest known daily comic strip.
At the time, it was unheard of for a comic to be done daily, since most were very elaborate and required much time to be drawn. There was also the issue of space as daily newspapers were often smaller than the Sunday newspapers which had dedicated comic sections. As such, A. Piker Clerk appeared in the sports section of the Chicago American.
The usual situation was that Piker Clerk would make a bet on one of the horses running in races that day and the next day, his reaction would be shown based on whether he won or not. This idea was used later in the first long-term daily comic strip that, more-or-less, actually got the ball rolling for daily strips.
It was pulled from the newspaper in 1904 as the owner of the paper, William Randolph Hearst, considered it "too obscene."
